There’s been a lot of fuss around this smartphone, this phone they call the Yu phone because there’s no name to it yet. That’s because the phone is yet to be launched; it could simply be called the ‘YU phone’ or the ‘YU One’ or something like that. Thankfully you’ll know in just 3 days time, since it’s going to launch on the 18th this month. If you aren’t aware yet, YU is a new Micromax subsidiary which aims to redefine the market with its CyanogenMod powered phone. If you’ve been following the market remotely close, you’ll know that a certain OnePlus pulled off a similar feat about a year back. Micromax isn’t certainly known for its originality (take this: the popular Micromax Canvas Nitro is in fact a rebranded Coolpad F1), and a new sub-brand could certainly give them a fresh start and a clean slate.
No one knows how the Yu phone will look like. There are chances the phone will be a rebrand of another popular phone, but we’ll reserve our judgment for later, after launch perhaps. What we do however know is that the YU phone will come with CyanogenMod, as aggressively advertised, and a Snapdragon 615 SoC. This is the same chipset that features on the Vivo X5 Max that launched in Micromax’s home country today. The Snapdragon 615 has an octa-core CPU with 64-bit cores, along with an on-board LTE radio which means the YU phone will feature 4G capabilities as well.
Other purported specifications of this upcoming phone point at 2GB of RAM, 5.5-inch 720p display and a 13 megapixel rear camera + 5 megapixel front camera. Again, these specifications remind of the Vivo X5 Max to a great extent; save for the fact that the X5 Max has a 1080p Super AMOLED panel, and unlike the 2500mAh battery on the YU phone, it’s only a 2000mAh unit.
The YU phone will also be the only one in India to get OTA updates from CyanogenMod. This means that the recently launched OnePlus One will not get OTA updates in the country, unless the unit is imported from another market. There’s no word on pricing yet, but YU is certainly going after the OnePlus One with this one and therefore, you can expect the phone to be in the 12,000 INR (sub-US$200) range.